Medical practitioners frequently use sutures to repair tissue and facilitate healing. Sutures can be used to close various openings (e.g., cuts, punctures, and incisions). They may also be used to anchor and tension grafts and ligaments. Because of their importance and frequent use, several types of sutures and devices for their implantation and extraction have been developed. These devices include needles having various shapes and sizes as well as devices for inserting and removing sutures. The suture material chosen, and the specific type of needle used varies depending on the end use e.g., preparing a graft, closing a laceration etc. When closing a body it is important to minimize tissue trauma and to close quickly. Accordingly, a need exists for a suturing method that will minimize trauma to tissue and save time.
When a ligament or tendon becomes detached from the bone, surgery is usually required to re-secure the ligament or tendon. Often, a substitute ligament or graft is attached to the bone to facilitate regrowth and permanent attachment. The reattachment procedure involves drilling of a graft tunnel between two bones (for example, the tibia and the femur) and securing the substitute ligament or graft in the tunnel. To achieve optimal results, it is often important that the substitute ligament or graft be properly tensioned in the graft tunnel. The tension of the graft prior to fixation must be sufficient to achieve stability. Accordingly, a need exists for a method for attaching soft tissue to bone which allows the tendon to be securely placed in a bone tunnel and to remain properly tensioned until the ligaments naturally attach to bone.